Amazon Partners to Run Ads on ChatGPT Under New OpenAI Deal

Amazon is partnering with OpenAI to enable advertisers to place ads on ChatGPT.  The collaboration represents a significant endorsement for OpenAI's growing ad business, which the AI firm recently said topped $1 billion in annualized revenue run rate. Initially, only selected brands in the U.S. will run ads on ChatGPT. 

How Will OpenAI and Amazon Manage ChatGPT Ads?

The partnership with OpenAI allows Amazon advertisers to bring their campaigns into ChatGPT’s wide user base, which OpenAI placed at about 900 million weekly active users earlier this year. Under the deal, Amazon will manage ad campaigns while OpenAI handles ad delivery. 

The AI developer will display ads below ChatGPT responses in image or text formats. By placing relevant promotions in front of users as they search for information or consider purchases, brands could potentially increase ChatGPT ad conversions.

"With Access to ChatGPT Ads, advertisers can now extend their campaigns further into where their customers are actively spending time in conversational chat platforms," said Chris Conetta, director of omnichannel supply at Amazon DSP as cited by CNBC.

OpenAI started placing testing ChatGPT ads with users in the U.S. in February. At the time, Best Buy and Williams-Sonoma were among the company’s e early retail partners. Recently, the AI developer extended the ChatGPT ad service to India and plans to roll out self-service access to markets across Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa.

A Change of Heart for Amazon

Amazon’s move to allow its partners to utilize the ChatGPT advertising platform represents a shift in the way the company worked with AI developers. Previously, the ecommerce giant blocked AI platforms, such as ChatGPT, Anthropic’s Claude, and Google’s Gemini from accessing its extensive online store as it built its own AI-driven shopping tools. 

But this changed earlier this year when the company started buying ads on ChatGPT. Between April and August, the ecommerce giant became the top retail firm advertising on the chatbot. The move also highlights Amazon’s recognition of the growing importance of chatbots as channels for reaching consumers and improving ad performance.

“Conversational ads represent the fastest growing engagement opportunity for brands to reach new and existing audiences. The AI-driven ad experience is not just a vision of what’s to come, but an opportunity for advertisers to meet relevant users where they spend time today,” Conetta added. 

Why ChatGPT Ads Matter to Amazon Partners

With research showing that 1 in 10 online buyers will use AI agents to shop by 2030, the partnership between Amazon and OpenAI could reshape how brands connect with consumers. As more users turn to AI chatbots for product discovery and purchase decisions, advertisers will increasingly follow them there. 

If ChatGPT proves capable of turning conversations into meaningful sales, brands may increase their spending on the platform and make conversational advertising a larger part of their digital strategies. Over time, this could reshape how Amazon partners approach product discovery and customer acquisition.